백불암가(百弗庵家)의 가문 형성과정과 변화양상

Abstract

This paper is a study on Baek-Bul-Am(Choi-Heung-Won, 百弗庵, 1705～1786) who was a Neo-Confucian in the middle of Joseon Dynasty, with a focus on changing aspect of family[clan] since the family settled down in the village of Otgol (漆溪, 옻골). He was born in the 32nd year of Suk-Jong(肅宗, 1675～1720) and died in the 10th year of Jeong-Jo(正祖, 1777～1800). Although he deserved a very important status, less attention has been paid to his works in the history of Neo-Confucianism, except for his Buindong-Dongyak(夫仁洞 洞約) which had been runned for a self-governing community based on the philosophy of mutual assistance and morality for 100 years. At those times, social and economic contradiction (conflict among factions, various problems related to education, the state examination and the class system) had been deepened. Therefore, he put high priority of value on practical and pragmatic studies instead of monotonous discussion and ideological disputes and made every effort to establish his country as a paradise. As a result, he had a confidence of the people and won general applause as one of Three Big Fathers(Eldest) in the Youngnam province(嶺南三老). Therefore, this paper tried to observe the formation process and changing aspect of Otgol family[clan] which had highly effected his thoughts and contained 4 distinctive features as follows. First, his ancestrial will and injunctions to replace the traditionalized martial arts by literary arts(變武爲文) had affected forming Baek-Bul-Am's thoughts and building-up his family tradition as a key factor. Second, Three kinds of trends during formation of family could be found, as ① most of ancestors were soldiers in the former times, ② the others except eldest son usually set up their settlements at other places to expand territories and most ancestors did not service as government officials since Daeamgong. Third, he recognized that succession of the ancestrial will and injunctions lay in the piety and brotherly love and made push ahead with Big Five Projects to contribute the prosperity of a family (① education and morality of filial piety and brotherly love, ② set-up of norm and regulations, ③ construction, ④ self-government of community, ⑤ formation of human network through exchange with nobleman society). Fourth, The eldest grandson(13th) of the main family made the great decisions for existence of family with turning moment for essential glue even amidst hardship during rapid changes of social and political affairs in the times of Japanese Imperialism, World War Ⅱ, the 1950's Korean War and others. And he turned over his property right and decision right to the committee of the family and established the system of decision making through mutual agreement. He also found a shelter for the ancestral tablet, where he spent the hard times together with the eldest sons of the collateral-line families. Even amidst of the hardship and trials, he did his best to succeed and renew the traditional cultural-spiritual features by keeping in mind the value of Baek-Bul-Am's Big Five Projects, which have been the main point of the family tradition since 1700's. Further studies of Baek-Bul-Am's Big Five Projects should be required to meet the need of future circumstances and also to find a clue of ‘Sustainability Management’ from Confucianism.